About Rhonda Mills (she/her), Transformation Playground Guide
Rhonda Mills, Founder of Transformation Playground
I connect with what’s deeply essential to facilitate connection and emergent creativity. Principles of nonviolence inform my work, opening space for compassion, discovery, and inner freedom.
After an international dance career, I discovered yoga, ayurveda and meditation in 1999. A new focus emerged which included my lifelong spiritual connection, the ancient tradition of yoga, and creative movement. In 2003, I was initiated into the Himalayan tradition of Sri Vidya by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. I continued to study yoga and assist my teachers through 2009, gaining a 500+ hour teaching certification. After discovering Nonviolent Communication in 2005, I completed my Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer certificate in 2009. By 2010, I also completed certifications as a Big Leap Embodiment Coach and Transformational Leadership from The Hendricks Institute. Throughout the 2000’s to the present, I have worked with individuals and couples, led Nonviolent Communication Trainings and Conscious Living Learning Playshops, and created and led mutliple year-long trainings to certifiy both Yoga Teachers and Facilitators of Embodied Transformation (Coaches).
I’ve been studying trauma healing since 2018. As an ongoing student of Thomas Hübl, I study and incorporate the Transparent Communication process and individual, ancestral, and collective trauma healing into my work. Since 2020, I've been participating in and co-evolving Global Social Witnessing small group practice, which I began facilitating in 2021. I regularly bring the GSW practice to various communities, such as Nonviolent Communication trainer and social justice communities. Global Social Witnessing is an emergent group we-space practice initiated by Thomas Hübl, which supports groups to deepen their embodied presence while turning towards challenging world events and topics such as racism and colonialism. To me, this quote captures the spirit of the practice:
"We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
I became a NARM-Informed Professional in 2021 which has become a foundation for my coaching work with individuals and couples. NARM stands for Neuro Affective Relational Model for working with complex trauma.
In the last several years, I’m actively focusing on the collective traumas of systemic white supremacy and colonialism. I participated in a St. Louis YWCA Witnessing Whiteness Class Series in 2019 and volunteered to co-lead sessions locally. In the summer of 2021, I earned a 50-hour certificate for Embodied Social Justice led by Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams.
Becoming more informed about racialized trauma and actively bringing anti-racism into my life and work inspired me to deepen within my own ancestry which is a mixture of English, Irish, Scottish, and Chickamauga Cherokee. I am a member of The Chickamauga Sac and White River Bands Tribe. In 2023 I completed the Historical Trauma Masterclass founded by Dr. Ruby Gibson of Freedom Lodge, allowing me to offer Somatic Archaeology(c) sessions.
Facing into my mixed race heritage has deepened my understanding of the interconnection between inner and outer healing and restoration, and strengthened my resolve to contribute to peace. I believe each of us is sacred. Whatever our vision, we begin where we are. We all carry a piece of an answer.
Read my statement about systemic oppression here.
After an international dance career, I discovered yoga, ayurveda and meditation in 1999. A new focus emerged which included my lifelong spiritual connection, the ancient tradition of yoga, and creative movement. In 2003, I was initiated into the Himalayan tradition of Sri Vidya by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. I continued to study yoga and assist my teachers through 2009, gaining a 500+ hour teaching certification. After discovering Nonviolent Communication in 2005, I completed my Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer certificate in 2009. By 2010, I also completed certifications as a Big Leap Embodiment Coach and Transformational Leadership from The Hendricks Institute. Throughout the 2000’s to the present, I have worked with individuals and couples, led Nonviolent Communication Trainings and Conscious Living Learning Playshops, and created and led mutliple year-long trainings to certifiy both Yoga Teachers and Facilitators of Embodied Transformation (Coaches).
I’ve been studying trauma healing since 2018. As an ongoing student of Thomas Hübl, I study and incorporate the Transparent Communication process and individual, ancestral, and collective trauma healing into my work. Since 2020, I've been participating in and co-evolving Global Social Witnessing small group practice, which I began facilitating in 2021. I regularly bring the GSW practice to various communities, such as Nonviolent Communication trainer and social justice communities. Global Social Witnessing is an emergent group we-space practice initiated by Thomas Hübl, which supports groups to deepen their embodied presence while turning towards challenging world events and topics such as racism and colonialism. To me, this quote captures the spirit of the practice:
"We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
I became a NARM-Informed Professional in 2021 which has become a foundation for my coaching work with individuals and couples. NARM stands for Neuro Affective Relational Model for working with complex trauma.
In the last several years, I’m actively focusing on the collective traumas of systemic white supremacy and colonialism. I participated in a St. Louis YWCA Witnessing Whiteness Class Series in 2019 and volunteered to co-lead sessions locally. In the summer of 2021, I earned a 50-hour certificate for Embodied Social Justice led by Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams.
Becoming more informed about racialized trauma and actively bringing anti-racism into my life and work inspired me to deepen within my own ancestry which is a mixture of English, Irish, Scottish, and Chickamauga Cherokee. I am a member of The Chickamauga Sac and White River Bands Tribe. In 2023 I completed the Historical Trauma Masterclass founded by Dr. Ruby Gibson of Freedom Lodge, allowing me to offer Somatic Archaeology(c) sessions.
Facing into my mixed race heritage has deepened my understanding of the interconnection between inner and outer healing and restoration, and strengthened my resolve to contribute to peace. I believe each of us is sacred. Whatever our vision, we begin where we are. We all carry a piece of an answer.
Read my statement about systemic oppression here.
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